From the French lines you would have a certain difficulty trying to grasp the size and importance of Hougoumont in the morning of the Waterloo battle, adding to that some poor reconnaissance and maps.
Now you can't see them but on those days the woods of Hougoumont hide the complex from French eyes which led Napoleon not to pay the attention it deserved with catastrophic consequences for his side.
The model of Hougoumont is an old Draper model bought from Miniatures Wargames a few years ago and I think still available.
I followed mainly this drawing from the Carnets de la Campagne Vol.1, dedicated to Hougoumont.
But in order to portray the full Hougoumont complex you need an orchard with an hedgerow looking at the French side ...
... and a garden enclosed by a new outer brick wall and an inner masonry wall.
The pigeon house doesn't come in the model so you need to build it. This one is from card. I also made some thatched roofs using old pieces of linen as on the model on the Waterloo cyclorama.
The famous South Gate of Hougoumont.
The model of the chateau is designed for 20mm but goes well with 28mm as the true Hougoumont in 28mm fills any decent table leaving no room for anything else.
Let's move a bit to the east.
La Haie Sainte is the Airfix model with a few additions.
... and also a garden looking north.
And here you have two of the main "breakwaters" of Wellington.
Fabulous features, Joao. I recognised them instantly, of course, but I've not seen the Hougoumont model before. I shall look into Draper Models. Thanks for the views.
ReplyDeleteFor Hougoumont try miniatures Wargames (the magazine). They may still have it.
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